Jimmy Wales talks to William Hague

The co-founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales talks about the seven principles of building influence, trust and communication which have carried him through his business career – and which underpin his creation, Wikipedia, now one of the most trusted sources of information on the internet. He talks to the Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former Conservative Party leader Lord William Hague.

When Jimmy Wales founded Wikipedia over two decades ago, most people thought it was a joke. The idea of an online encyclopaedia that could be written and edited by anyone seemed laughable. Yet today, it is one of the most influential platforms in the world, trusted by millions across the globe. Today, people view Wikipedia 11 billion times every month in the English language alone.

But in our ‘post-truth’ era, where the internet is a sea of disinformation and facts are increasingly malleable, Wales reminds us that it’s more important than ever to return to the problem at the heart of it all: that without trust, we have no knowledge. And without knowledge, we can’t fight back.

The Chancellor’s Forum (previously Lecture) features a well-known figure talking at the invitation of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford Lord Hague. Previous Chancellor’s Lectures, at the invitation of the then-Chancellor, Lord Patten, have included Dr Mario Vargas Llosa (2009), Jung Chang (2011), Vikram Seth (2012), Seamus Heaney (2013), Orhan Pamuk (2014), Amitav Ghosh (2015), Professor Frank Dikötter (2017), Sebastian Barry (2018), Robert Harris (2019), Penelope Lively (2022), Mick Herron (2023), Tom Fletcher (2024), and the 2026 Chancellor’s Lecture was with John Sergeant (2026).